Lake Fork, Texas
Wow, the first of May, warm weather finally and a trip to Lake Fork, 90 miles East of Dallas. What could be better? Well for starters, it rained 75% of the way Sunday, May 1. No problem, it was a warm rain. Got to Lake Fork Marina about 3:30. Checked in and time for a couple or three hours of fishing. The lake was low, 4 and half feet low. They had not experienced all the rain we have back in Tennessee. I saw acres of stumps that I had never seen before. Doyal and I caught a 3 lb'er each and had high hopes for the rest of the trip. There were 10 of us on the trip, including my partner, Doyal Brown, Calvin, his son Mike and his 12 year old grandson, Drew, Calvin's brother Jim from Carruthersville, Mo., Bill Caldwell and son, Jeff, Roger Knight and Gary Mercer. Jim will later be joined by friend Matt from Austin, Texas. More about him later.
As is usual on our trips, Monday dawned (figuratively speaking) with a front that had blown through Sunday night and lingered all day Monday. Rain, cold blustery wind (did I mention cold) and in general, a miserable day for fishing. But being tough, seasoned fishermen we decided we really needed to make a trip a few miles East to visit Lake Fork Tackle. It is an interesting tackle and manufacturing facility. Smelled stronger than a authentic Italian restaurant with the lingering garlic smell. I didn't buy a thing but Doyal was bitten with must have lures. Oh, and Gary Mercer had come to Fork with shorts only but was advised that he could buy jeans at the Coop and feed store in Emory, TX. Expected him in bib overalls but he did find some jeans, definitely not stylish. With rain still coming down and a cold wind blowing, 4 of us drove over to Mineola, Tx to Gary Yamamoto's store. Again, I didn't buy anything but Doyal came out with a very small sack worth about $30+. We had lunch there and then headed back to our motel. Some of the more hardy of us went out that afternoon and actually had a good day catching fish. Roger and Gary caught 20+ including some nice fish but came in frozen like a popsicle. We might have missed some decent fishing but didn't mind a bit not getting frozen and wet from the day.
One of the really great things about Lake Fork Marina is the on premise restaurant, Tiffany's (formerly Moser's) The food is quite decent, breakfasts are excellent and the pies (many varieties) are out of this world. There is also a great tackle store with hard to find baits, begging to vacate the bills in your billfold.
Tuesday was what you would expect after a major front came through, sunshine and high blue skies. I won't go into detail about the number of fish caught. Suffice it say the whole week was not a big number week but we did catch 8-15 or so a day. The nice thing was that most were in the 3 to 3.5 lb class but the bad news was we caught no big fish. I lost one that was over 8, well maybe 6 or a little under. When you lose one, they can be as big as you want. We did have 2 7+ pounders in our group and 3 or 4 6 pounders but the best of all was the 5+ pound fish caught by Drew. You never saw a kid so excited. He also caught a 4+. Most of the big fish were caught deep on humps, etc. some as much as 30 feet deep.
Wednesday was better, and Thursday even better therefore Friday should be the best. It wasn't, for whatever reason that only the fish know. Most of our fish all week were caught on square bill crankbaits like the Strike King KVD 1.5 and flukes. The flukes were fished either Carolina Rig or the mojo rig (light Carolina). The best color we found was Watermelon Candy. The one redeeming thing about Friday was that it was Crawfish night. We chowed down on boiled crawfish with potatoes and corn.
The trip back to Memphis looked to be if not hazard filled at least a long, boring ride. Interstate I40 was closed due to flooding between Little Rock and Memphis. The delay looked to be 4-6 hours longer. We devised a plan to go north, checking with Highway Patrol to determine if there were other closures. We actually got back to Memphis in about the usual time, a little over 8 hours. I loaded up my truck and hightailed to Franklin, another 3+ hours.
About Matt, (don't know his last name): He is a business associate of Jim Hillin. Matt is a fairly young man, I would guess in his 30s. A few years ago, he and his father were hiking in mountains. I have forgotten where but either in Mexico or out west. They were trapped by a blizzard and stranded. They both had severe frostbite. Matt lost all of his fingers and other injuries. He was able to fish, eat, etc without regard to what we perceive, a handicap. Pretty amazing and inspiring.
I apologize in advance for any errors in retelling this journal.
To sum up this trip, we caught a fair number of 3 lb fish but my partner and I had no big fish. We had a great time with our group, enjoyed good food and good fellowship. Can't wait until next year.
